Gaeilge agus Fáilte - Welcome to Irish Ceacht 2 (Lesson 2)

Last week we learned how to say ‘am’, ‘is’ and ‘are’ in Irish e.g. Tá mé go maith. (ta may gu moy)-I am well. Tá Seán óg (oag)-Seán is young. Tá Séamus agus Aoife tinn (chin)- Séamus and Aoife are ill.
By Liam Uilliam Eoghain
Published 15th May 2020, 13:45 BST
Signage at An Bun Beag harbour in the Gaeltacht.Signage at An Bun Beag harbour in the Gaeltacht.
Signage at An Bun Beag harbour in the Gaeltacht.

The opposite of ‘tá’ is ‘níl’ (nyeel) : Níl mé go maith.-I am not well. Níl Seán óg. Níl Séamus agus Aoife tinn.

To ask a question with ‘am’, ‘is’ or ‘are’, we use ‘An bhfuil - ?’(un will) - An bhfuil tú go maith?(un will too gu moy) Are you well? An bhfuil Bríd tinn? Is Bríd ill? An bhfuil na páistí ar scoil? (un will nu pwashtchee er skull) Are the children at school?

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Put these sentences into Irish: I am ill. Seán is not well. Caoimhe is tall. The children are not at school. Are you well? Is Pádraig happy? (Tá mé tinn. Tá Caoimhe ard. Níl na páistí ar scoil. An bhfuil tú go maith? An bhfuil Pádraig sásta?) You have seen ‘An bhfuil?’ before, of course. The title of our Friday column is ‘An bhfuil Gaeilge agat?’( un will gailig ugut), literally ‘Is there Irish at you’, i.e. Do you have Irish?

Here are a few examples of our many Irish proverbs:

Fear óg falsa, seanfhear bocht. (far oag falsa shanyar boht) A lazy young man is a poor old man.

Dónall ar meisce agus a bhean ag ól uisce.(Doanal er meshke agus a van eg ol ishke) Dónall drunk and his wife drinking water. (i.e. It’s a man’s world.)

Níl aon leigheas ar an ghrá ach pósadh.(Nyeel ane layas err un ghra uh possoo) There is no cure for love except marriage.

We will look at a few others next Tuesday: they give you food for thought and build up your vocabulary!